Common Law's Michael Ealy To Play An Android Cop In J.J. Abrams Fox Pilot

Michael Ealy demonstrated his ability to comfortably and confidently wear a badge in USA's short-lived cop drama Common Law, and we may see him back on the small screen soon enough, sporting a bit of metal, on the inside and out. The actor has been tapped to play the robot half of a robot/human cop partnership in J.J. Abrams untitled futuristic Fox pilot.

Common Law certainly fell into the category of a "buddy cop" show, and the same is being said for the concept of the Fox pilot J.J. Abrams and Fringe's J.H. Wyman are putting together. Except in this case, there's a sci-fi twist. Last fall, we learned that Abrams and Wyman were teaming up to develop a drama at Fox, which would be set in the future when all of the LAPD officers are partnered with a highly evolved humanoid robot. TVLine is now reporting that Michael Ealy has been cast to play the role of Dorian, the android partner of L.A. cop John Kennex. Even without a beating heart, Dorian apparently has a better grasp on humanity than his human partner. Twist!

In addition to Common Law, Ealy's credits include Think Like a Man, Californication, The Good Wife and FlashForward. From what I've seen of him, he tends to play the laid back act pretty well. Whether or not that trait will apply to this non-human character remains to be (hopefully) seen. Either way, he's a great pick to lead a series, so hopefully things go forward with this promising project. Now it's just a matter of casting Doran's human partner John. We'll have to keep an ear out for updates on that.